Musk Says He’s Investigating Tesla Factory Conditions

Tesla CEO Elon Musk may not want a unionized workforce, but he doesn't want an injured one either. To that end, he is investigating the state of the Fremont production facility, according to Gizmodo.

“Fremont production management was in poor shape and not able to scale about a year ago. I think we’ve made a lot of progress since then," Musk told Gizmodo in a DM Twitter conversation. 

What's going on at NUMMI?

The electric vehicle and energy company has come under fire during the past week for its low pay scale and unsafe working conditions. NUMMI facility employ Jose Moran posted an open letter to Tesla calling for the company to listen to its employees' complaints about lower-than-industry-average wages and high rates of on-the-job injuries. 

Musk has maintained that Moran is being paid by the United Auto Workers (UAW) to agitate for a union at the NUMMI plant. Moran, who has worked for Tesla at the Fremont factory for four and a half years, denied that claim to the media and in a video message posted on Facebook.

Musk open to feedback on factory conditions

NUMMI workers were represented by the UAW when the facility was owned and operated by Toyota and General Motors. However, when Tesla purchased the factory, the UAW was shut out. Moran says that the company's "open door policy" that the company uses to resolve grievances no longer works with more than 6,200 grievances, and feels that a union would be better able to advocate for their interests, which include higher pay, more transparency with hiring and promotion procedures, and safer working conditions.

The Drive reached out to representatives for the UAW and Jose Moran for comment, but did not hear back by the time of publication. 

The Silicon Valley mogul told Gizmodo that he plans to publish the results of his investigation later this week.

“If there are areas that you are hearing are still not great, I would love to hear feedback on that,” he added.

h/t: Gizmodo